One thing that I have started to notice is a lot of people avoiding as much otaku culture or appreciation for anything Japanese as possible. They assume that any further interest in Japanese culture is because the person is trying to “be all anime” or something. There is a disdain for doing anything related to the hobby besides just watching, reading. All discussion should be kept online, and giving out any indication of having an interest in anime in the real world is considered a horrible, horrible thing. There is a strong feeling of superiority over other anime fans. This person has a feeling of superiority due his interest being “genuine” while the average fan’s reason to like anime is not. Most of this I have observed on 4chan, but I see traces of it elsewhere as well. What results is people robbing themselves of enjoyment so as not to be seen as the kind of anime fan that they hate. In the end, I feel they are way more obnoxious than the narutards and fangirls that they so despise.

Of course, this is an extreme case. I doubt any of the people taking this survey feel this strongly. Like I said, it is mostly a 4chan thing where being obnoxious and bitter and part of the fun.

Scott talks about this a bit here (http://animealmanac.com/2008/03/19/otakus-war-on-otaku-why-the-world-doesnt-actually-hate-us/). In fact, I first really got involved with the blogoshpere because I was researching this subject and found that post and emailed Scott about it. I learned about twitter, etc, etc.

There is the old saying that, “I against my brother; my brother and I against my cousin; I, my brother, and my cousin against the stranger.” The implication being that against an outside threat people stand together but internally they bicker without someone to be unified against. I would also like to believe that it means that like brothers although they might fight there is still a strong bond and love between them.

Maybe it simply comes down to what social circles in fandom we run in. I often see old school fans complaining that new fans refuse to give old shows a chance. I see moe fans who think that everyone else is attacking them and respond in kind. I see places like Colony Drop that think everyone is fandom is a huge joke. I see people constantly crying that things would be better if we could just kick group X out of fandom once and for all. I see it as this constant trend. But at times people find it easier to say what they hate and why more than why they like the things they do.

However, the surveys did represent this as well. 37 of 40 people said there were people in fandom who disgusted them at some point. And when people did talk about what disgusted them they were quite verbose. I am sure if we had a question in which we asked “Do you ever feel proud of other fans?” they would be verbose but that is hindsight. The fact remains that there was a wide amount they had to say that was negative. And therefore we reflected that in our article.

I’d like to point out that to have these sorts of strong feelings implies a great bond people have with fandom. As does the fact that almost everyone on the survey has tried to learn Japanese at some point and that nearly everyone participates in a fan work. Our overall conclusion was that while people felt strongly against bad behavior, everyone still wants to be apart of something and be connected to their fellows.

I think the fact is that there are both feelings. They are not contradictory. You can be proud and supportive of something or someone and still have issues and anger towards them. Feelings are not light switches with on and off attached to them but complex and ever shifting pictures with multiple layers all blending into each other.

- Hisui & Narutaki

“I see more and more a very disturbing attitude among anime and manga fans.” -this statement is the same sort of attitude that you are talking about in the statement. There is also a message throughout the article about how fans should be more open-minded about other fans, but it is combined with a message and statistics that could be interpreted as, “Not all fans are the bad kind of fan” which isn’t quite an open-minded idea. I’m sorry to have over-reacted over a misinterpretation of the article before, but some of the conflicting statements like this leaves me confused about what your overall observation is. I think it’s very important to know whether or not you would consider yourselves part of the fandom you talk about in the article as well, or if there is a possibility that the survey and article puts you in a position above the fandom as you spoke of.

My two cents: Anime fandom is generally made up of somewhat normal people who have an unusually strong obsession with Japanese culture. However, it tends to attract people who are a little more on the awkward side of the social scale, so at conventions and anime club meetings we end up meeting a lot of people who can just barely hold an engaging conversation, even when discussing a common interest like Japanese cartoons.

It’s that aggregating of so many people who are slightly less than proficient at social interaction that makes people feel like the whole of fandom is made up of social rejects. Am I any better than the average fan? I’d like to say yes, but as you say in this article, it’s difficult to make that call about one’s self.